Cailin

So during my blogging absence, Cailin turned two!

I know, I can't believe it's been two years, either.  Thankfully, her second year of life was nowhere near as traumatic as her first--no rsv, no chickenpox, etc.  Just a solid year of Crazy Girl.  Seriously, she answers when I call her that.  :)  Cailin has so much personality.

Yup, crossed legs.  Goofball.  :)

 I know I've felt that way about each of my children, but Cailin just has this way of making herself and her needs/desires known.  She knows exactly what she wants, and most of the time, has how to get it all figured out.

(For example, she insists on holding onto this railing EVERY TIME we get Breanne from school, never mind the fact that it's hard for her to reach it and walk at the same time so it takes her twice as long to walk up the ramp... ) 

She is my best tantrum thrower, but also my funniest girl; she can be so sweet and loving, but can also hit and kick with the best of them.  She is a handful, at her best, and "trouble-trouble" at her worst.  She is my best helper around the house, always emptying the silverware and helping with the kid cups, bowls and measuring spoons and cups, also always trying to sneak in and take over my mopping and sweeping, devastated if I don't give her a turn too.

I sure do love this crazy, crazy girl.

A few things about Cailin--

Age--2
Height--33" (50th percentile)
Weight--28.5 lbs (65-75th percentile, and only about a pound less than Janey.  I get asked at least weekly if they're twins... ha).
Favorite Food--Cocoa, cookies, treats, oatmeal, anything I happen to have served up for myself.

Favorite Show--She's gone through a few phases, but currently it is definitely "Boots Lella!"  which means Boots and Dora (Dora the Explorer, of course).
Favorite Song--Toss up between Popcorn Popping, Pattycake, Snowman, and Who Came to Church Today?  Also, favorite radio type song--Great DJ by the Ting Tings.  All my girls love it still, but she'll immediately pick her head up off her headrest and dance along in the car.  She even sings the words.  Love it.
Favorite Toys--Baby dolls, sunglasses, and the new kitchen she got for her birthday.  But let's be honest, she'd rather be watching Dora than playing with any old toy.

Favorite Book--Ni-ni, Moon!  (Goodnight Moon)
Favorite Color--Pink, or green.  She knows her other colors, but if you ask her what color something is, she'll most likely tell you one of those two colors first, just to test you.
Other things of note about Cailin--she is by far my mobile-est child--she can keep up with Breanne better than Janey, probably, on the trampoline--she's an excellent jumper.  And loves to jump off of anything. The child has no fear.  Thankfully she has yet to hurt herself too badly (knock on wood).  She also has recently taken to running out into the street when we're outside, a fight I never really had with my other girls.  Learning to discipline Cailin has been a challenge, because she just keeps finding new ways to push the rules that I don't know how to deal with.  But I feel like we're finally coming to an understanding... maybe her terrible twos just came early?

Cailin is also my best talker at this age.  She puts together 5 word sentences all the time, and for me, they're very understandable.  Everyone else, including Cory, struggles to understand them a bit, but I definitely know what she's saying most of the time.  She came into the kitchen tonight humming to herself, and then stopped, and said "haha, my hum, mom.  My hum, song!"  So, so cute.  We have been watching Downton Abbey lately, and today she walked in during a part about WWI, where there were several explosions, causing the men in the bunkers to fall down.  She looked at the tv, said "Uh-oh! Him! Fall Down!  Oh No!"  and then laughed and laughed and pretended to fall down herself...  Crazy girl.  Every time I sneeze, she'll look at me (and if I'm not looking at her, she'll take my face in her hands and turn it to her and say "Mom!  Look-a-Me!") and say "Mom!  You fine Mom?"  She's a thoughtful girl.

Cailin is so funny, and she knows it.  She is constantly making faces at us, and teasing her sisters and me. She'll hide her face behind something and ask "You see me, mom?" over and over until I respond.  She has her knock-knock joke that she's gotten really good at these days, she says all the lines now, you don't have to provide any of them.  She has a skip-run that I love to watch--she'll just randomly gallop when she's running across a room.  She also loves loves loves to pick out her own outfits, and will put on things just to make me laugh.  She has taken to wearing 3-5 skirts at a time, regularly over her footie pjs (if she can't get them off herself, that is... one night I found her wearing nothing but her diaper and 3 skirts in her bed when I went in to check on her.  hahaha).

(I think this is a moment of 2 skirts only (plus the leggings, of course), but there are frequently at least 5)

She loves hats, and sunglasses.  Yesterday the girls were riding bikes in the garage, and Breanne and Janey had both put on their helmets.  Cailin doesn't have a helmet yet (she rides on a sit and scoot toy, instead of a bike, but she still probably needs one...) so she came running inside, crying for a hat.  She went upstairs and got a sunhat, and was perfectly content with that.

This is getting crazy long, but I just want you all to understand--Cailin has been, by far, my most challenging child.  She gets up out of her bed several times before falling asleep, and then wakes up in the middle of the night several times during the week.  She also challenges me daily with her physical assertiveness and strength.  Despite all that, though, I deeply love this girl.  She has a spirit that is meant to be here.  We weren't planning on having her so soon after Janey was born, but she was meant to be with us, and we knew it.  She kicked her way out of the womb, putting me into labor, she came out in 1/2 a push.  She was supposed to be named Natalie Paige, but that was just not her name.  She is just meant to be here, and to be herself, right now.  I feel privileged to be the mom of such a strong little person.  I'm excited to watch her grow up, and to see who she becomes.  I sure do love my baby girl.

Back?

Hey all!  Sorry for the extreme absence.  I have no real excuses.  Pretty much I've just been making everyone else do all the work anyway.

(Yup, that's Breanne doing the dishes.  And I only had to go back and redo a couple pans.  What a great kid.)

I'm hoping I'm back at blogging for good, but I make no real promises.  The truth is I've been pretty busy sewing (and watching a whole lot of Frasier, among other shows), so I've got plenty to show you.  Plus, you know, birthdays, and awesome kids and stuff.  So.  See you again tomorrow?

Breanne Sews

So for Christmas, there were two things Breanne asked for.  A computer, and a sewing machine.  Yes, this is totally evidence of who her parents are.  Cory did give in and give her a (really, really old) computer (a Mac Classic II, if you want to know just how old, which had just been sitting in our garage gathering dust), but I just couldn't make myself buy her the cheapie Singer kids sewing machine for $30 that I'm afraid would just cause more frustration than fun because of its poor quality.  So, I got her a little sewing/cross-stitch/embroidery kit instead.  And I present to you, her first project.  She sewed it all herself, and was so proud.  I'm proud, too.

Immediately after I took this picture, she took off one of the frog's eyes, and proclaimed him the Pirate Frog King.  He keeps his eye in the pocket on his stomach for  safe keeping.  Kids are weird, man.

Today...

looked like this.  Plus a few extra parts that I skipped.

Breanne was cold before school.

She got dressed and looked so grown up, I had to take a picture.  She tucked in her shirt! So cute.

After I got out of the shower I could hear Janey and Cailin yelling about something.  Turns out Cailin got stuck in her new baby crib.  Hahahahahaha.  Haha.  Ha. Haha.  I almost felt bad for laughing so hard and insisting on taking a picture before I got her out.  Don't worry, she was fine.  P.S.  I did my second Couch-to-5K run today.  Turns out it's a lot better when I don't drink cocoa right before.  

I contemplated on cleaning up my crafting space.  Didn't happen today, but my closet does look much neater.  All our suitcases are officially unpacked and put away.  You can expect to see craft space progress in the next few days.  I can only take so much.

Rode some bikes after school.  Yup, that's right, Breanne was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and it was warm enough.  Why don't you people come visit me?!?

Cailin looked adorable after I fought to get ponytails in her hair.

You can see all three girls and bikes!  Right after this Cailin pushed Janey around on her bike.  Janey yelled "I know how to ride my bike!  Don't push me!" several times until she realized, hey, it's fun to be pushed, and much laughter ensued.

Then, when it was time to come in, Cailin carried her own bike in.  Yeah, she's tough like that.  :)

And then we finished off the day with homework, play-with-toys time, and dinner at Chili's, because we had kids-eat-free coupons.  Now that's a good day.  

Tow-tow

Nearly every morning since I introduced hot chocolate to Cailin, I've woken up to a bright-eyed little face  asking me sweetly for repeatedly requesting absolutely demanding "tow-tow." And then it happens again pretty much every time she can't think of something else to say.  Seriously, the girl wants cocoa at least 10 times a day.  I only oblige once.  Maybe twice.  And well, I mean, who doesn't love a little cocoa? Good thing I was given 4 very large canisters, and one smaller can, of Stephen's milk chocolate mix, and a Cocomotion Hot Chocolate Maker. Best Christmas present ever. Or at least most useful in the present.  I love it.  And so does Cailin.  :)

P.S.  Don't drink cocoa and then do your Couch to 5K run.  Trust me.

Christmas Dresses 2011

So if you're my friend on Facebook, you probably saw my post about finishing up the girls' Christmas dresses the day before we left for Utah.  I was SO excited to finally be done with all my Christmas sewing, plus they turned out even better than I expected.  Truth be told, they'd been "finished" before, but didn't quite... um... work.  I mean, yes, the girls could wear them, but they had really wonky waistlines, and were just kind of ugly.  Well, not anymore.  I'm pretty excited about how they came out.

This is the only picture I have of all three dresses together.  I had to steal it from my mom.

Yeah, I know.  Lately, my girls seem to refuse to want to be all together for pictures.  Either that, or we're in too big of a hurry to get to church.  Something like that.

Now for a little more detail--

Cailin's dress:

(Yeah, she fell on our stairs and scraped up her nose. Poor girl.)

White satin-y bodice, green diamond pin tucked fabric skirt.  I fell in love with the green fabric before I'd figured out how exactly I wanted the dress to look, but this is what I came up with.

Cailin's is the only dress without a sash.  I'm not sure exactly why I didn't put one on hers, but I really like the way it came out anyway.  The little row of topstitching above the gathering just pulled it off for me.  Also, it really does fit her better than this picture portrays--the bodice doesn't actually drown her, I swear.

Her dress also ended up with buttons in the back, as I didn't make it with a stretch velvet like the other two.  Yeah, I did buttonholes without a buttonholer.  You may now tell me that I am awesome.  Thank you.  :)

Now for the other two dresses... Yeah, these pictures are even worse.  Why can't my kids stand still?  Crazy girls.  At least they like each other, right?

You can see the sashes here:

All I said was stop touching each other and hold still.  They gave me this.  I can't stop laughing every time I look at this photo.  They're posing exactly the same!  And I love Janey's face.  Hahaha.

And here, we finally have, after a rousing round of "Put your hands on your head.  Put your hands on your hair.  Put your hands on your stomach.  Put your hands to your sides." (*click*)  

Oh silly girls.  

Anyway, like I said before, stretch velvet on the tops, then some specialty apparel fabric on the bottoms.  They have sashes, and I really like how they pulled the dresses together--you'll just have to believe me when I say they didn't work before I put them on.  I also actually really like how the necklines came out--they're sort of a half-turtleneck.  I was afraid that they wouldn't stretch enough to get their heads through, but since I used my serger, which allows for a little more stretch, they worked out just fine.  Yay.  :)

So there they are, the Christmas dresses of 2011.  I love 'em, and I'm glad they're done.  Ha.

Thoughts for 2012

I have a bunch of Christmas posts I should be working on, but honestly, this is what is on my mind, so I'm posting it.

2011 was a pretty awesome year for us. Lots of changes. I can't believe when I look back at the pics from January of last year, that it was only a year ago. Cailin was a baby just turning one. Cory got a new job and moved out to CA without us, leaving us to pack while he found a house. We moved to CA (a place I never thought I'd live).  My big girls turned 3 and 5.  Cory turned 30. We went to a couple of really great weddings.  The girls got some pretty serious haircuts.  Breanne started kindergarten.  Janey started preschool.  Janey then got shingles.  I had a super awesome birthday that I somehow didn't blog about.  We made some really cute costumes for Halloween,  We had our very own thanksgiving for the first time ever.  And Christmas was awesome.  :)  Really, minus a couple minor things, it really was a great year.  I'm so glad all this went so, so well, when there seemed like so much potential for craziness.

So after things went really well with our move and everything else, I started to get complacent.  I began sewing more and more, and spending less time interacting with my children.  I mean, I'm still around, and I listen to them play together and run interference all the time, but I don't get down and play with them very much.  I started thinking that going to pick up Breanne from school counted as some sort of outing with my kids.  I spent more time online than I should, just checking Facebook and Pinterest.  I feel like even though I'm kind of trying to get my life in order and do fun things with my kids, I'm just constantly frustrated by my lack of organization and energy.

I've been thinking lately that something really needs to change.

So.  As this past year came to a close, I actually spent a pretty good deal of time thinking about what I want to change and accomplish in the new year. I'm not usually a resolutions kind of person, but this year, I just feel drawn to the idea of having specific goals that I'd like to work on. I've gotten pretty lazy in my own way (no seriously, just because I sew a lot does not mean I'm productive. Promise.) and I'd like to move past that and really feel like I'm doing my best, instead of just coasting through the days. I feel like my children are growing up before my eyes, and I'm missing it. I'm not saying that I'm totally changing my ways, I still want to sew and have some time just for me that way, but I need to pay more attention to what is happening all around me, not just here on the computer or on my sewing machines. So, with all that in mind, here are a few of my goals for this year. I figure if I post them online for all of you all to see, I will hold myself more accountable to them. The fact that I'm actually outlining them in my head is probably enough, honestly, but since this is so heavy on my mind, I figured I'd share them here, too. This blog is titled "I'm Thinking," after all.

1.  Plan at least one activity with my kids each day.  Can be art related, time at the park or children's museum/Happy Hollow, a trip to the mall or store (that is exciting to them), inviting a friend over, or just time playing with them.  Just something done with all my attention on them.

2. Get my kids outside more. We have (mostly) great weather here--it's in the 60's all this week. We live in a long circle (court? cul-de-sac?) with very little traffic. Our neighborhood is generally very safe. I need to take advantage of that and let the kids out to ride bikes and play, and I need to take care of our yard.

3. Be better about reading the scriptures, both on my own, and with my family.

4. Read the lesson material for sunday school and Relief Society before church, and take my manuals with me to church.

5. Cook for my family at least 3 dinners a week. Cory is a great cook, and will help pitch in on the nights when I don't make something, and we seem to always need to eat leftovers at least a couple times a week, so I think 3 nights of cooking a week is a pretty solid plan.

6. Get my paper situation under control. Since we moved here, I've wanted to reorganize our filing system, and I just haven't gotten around to it. That needs to happen, and soon. It's making me crazy. 

7. Get my craft stuff all organized. Patterns filed, fabrics reorganized, ribbons and flowers put away in a manner that would make it easy to access them. I'm so tired of my craft spaces being such a mess--there are so many great organization ideas out there, I just need to take the time to implement a few of them. 

8. Complete the Couch-to-5K program in the next two months (it's a 9 week program). I've been feeling so sluggish lately (especially around 3-4:00 in the afternoon--I can barely stay awake, seriously), and I just need to do something to get some energy back. I also hope to start walking to pick up Breanne from school at least once a week (it's only 1/2 mile to the school, so 1 mile round trip. It's the uphill with a double stroller bit that always stops me from doing this). Anything to get a little more exercise into my day (without, you know, having to head to the gym or something). And then, once I complete the program, continue exercising 3-5 times a week. I'll decide at that point what kind of exercise I want to do. Perhaps a kick-boxing class? 

So there it is.  My list of goals for the new year.  I'm ready for some change.  How about you?

The Dollhouse

So this year, Christmas came early at our house. We're headed back to Utah for a few days, and knew we couldn't take everything we were giving the girls with us (especially not as a secret from Santa). We also knew that Cory would be working every day up until we left, so we just decided to celebrate this last Sunday. It was pretty great, though now I feel like I'm in this weird lull between fake Christmas and real Christmas, but with no Santa for real Christmas... it's weird. Anyway. This year, I was super excited about the girls' present. I bought a dollhouse for Breanne a couple years ago on an after Christmas sale for some 90% off. This one, actually (again, note the 90% off. Awesome). I didn't give it to her at the time because Janey was in crazy baby stage (1.5 years old), and I was about to have another baby. This year, though, with Breanne and Janey being in the delightfully responsible-ish enough stages that they are, and Cailin in a somewhat calm (for her) stage, I decided it would work.

 
And boy howdy do they love it. They've been playing with it for the last 4 days almost constantly. It always makes the hours worth it when the kids like what I've worked on like crazy. :) I stayed up many late nights painting and wall-papering and painting and material-ing the floors and painting... did I mention all the painting? It might not have been so bad if I hadn't had to paint the majority of the furniture too... but it ended up great. I love the way it came together, and the girls have really enjoyed playing with it thus far. Because we moved Christmas up a week (it was kind of a last minute decision) I didn't have time to finish the front of the house, so the porch and front wall are yet to be finished, but someday it'll all be done. Besides, this way=no pinched fingers, right?

Want a tour?  Ok.  We'll start at the top, in the attic (it's around on the back side).

Yes, that is a sewing machine.  And a vacuum.  I kind of fell in love with this pack of dollhouse furniture when I saw the sewing machine.  Couldn't resist it.  

Other side of the room, with the laundry, mop and bucket and ironing board.  I love these pieces.  The floor is corduroy (actually the same stuff I used for my diaper bag waaaay back here).  

Then there's the bathroom.  The pieces that came with the dollhouse for the bathroom were really lame.  Super squarish pieces, with drawn on faucets, and no toilet.  So I found this little set to replace it, after searching for nearly a month.  I'm glad the greens match well enough to pull it all together.  The floor is a sheet of 1 inch tiles from Home Depot I found on clearance.  It's my personal favorite part of the room.

This is the bedroom.  Couldn't resist the pinks (the floral on the walls is even sparkly...), and the floor is a furry white fabric.  The bed is not complete, still needs a mattress, pillow, and a finished edges blanket, but it's coming.  And yes, that's a light on the ceiling... you just click it on by pushing it.  It is adhered to the ceiling, but twists off to replace the batteries.  There's also one in the attic, and one in the family room.  The girls love them.  Let's be honest, so do I.  :)

The kitchen.  It came with a fridge, and the table and chairs weren't that scratched before, but... well... children.  And a few days.  You know the rest.  My favorite part of this room is a tie between the flooring, and the faux paneling on the walls.  It's the small things, sometimes.

And the front/family room.  Complete with Christmas tree and lights.  I am a sucker for the details.  I have plans to upholster the couch, but haven't had time yet.  I love the cabinet, though, and the furry carpet. You can tell that I bought this set a few years ago, though, by the tv.  I'm sure the tv's in newer sets are flat screens.  The girls asked me what it was.  :)

So there you have it.  I really love me a good project.  Yes, still plenty to do on this one, but I love it so far. And more importantly... so do the girls.  :)

I'm Still Here

Sorry, I know it's been a long time since I posted last, but I just want you all to know that I'm still here, I promise. Just neck deep in Christmas projects. I'm really excited to show them all to you, but sadly, my daylight hours for taking pictures are filled with children who can't see the finished products. So, you're just going to have to wait, at least until tomorrow when 2/3 kids will be at school. I'm pretty excited about all the stuff I've been working on, and I can't wait to show you.

 In the meantime, here are a few random pictures of Cailin, because she's got style.

She loves this hat.  Seriously, loves.  And for a while there, she couldn't care less what you wanted to put on her, as long as she got to pick out her own socks.  Which were always babylegs, which she could pull on herself (see above picture).  Good thing I've made about a million pairs for her.

Ooh baby, dark socks with the sandals.  Which I swear I put away.

And a big ol' Ta-Da! for climbing on top of the side table.  Kids.  Sheesh.  :)  And yes, those are the bats in the background, this is a slightly old pic.  Christmas decorations are mostly up these days.

Hopefully a more exciting post soon!

New Shirt for Me!

So a few months ago, I bought myself a new shirt, to wear in our family pictures.  

Despite my crazy face in the picture, I love the shirt.  Except for the sleeves.  It has these weird flutter sleeves that do nothing for me.  Nothing.  So, I always cover them up with a jacket.  I've been thinking lately that I should just replace the sleeves, but I haven't found a fabric that matches well enough to do it. And to be honest, I didn't want to mess up the shirt.  Anyway.  So yesterday, during my restful Sabbath, I decided to just attempt to make a new version of the shirt, with a sleeve I like.  I did my best at creating pattern pieces based on the original shirt.  My result:

Have to be honest, I'm kind of in love with the result.  I feel like it's the little details that totally make the shirt--the cuffs on the sleeves, the buttons, the gathers, and the neckline.

My first ever (faux!) button placket.  

I feel I must have you note, though, that the bottom has yet to be hemmed.  Not by my choice, but by the choice of my machine.  (We're in a serious power struggle these days.  She thinks it's ok to skip 5 stitches in a row, I tend to disagree.  The sewing machine repair shop seems to think it's basically unfixable.  Truly a sad day).  So, if I ever get a machine that works again, I'll be hemming this baby up.  The vast majority of this shirt was actually done on my serger.  The neckline and button placket are the only pieces sewn on by my machine, and had to be redone a number of times to make them look reasonable and hide all the skipped stitches.  :(

Anyway, enough sob story from me, here it is on:

Yeah, I kind of love it.  Next time I'll make the sleeves slightly looser, but other than that, seriously, I'm so happy with how it came out.